The Lindsay Files- Part 6

Fourth grade, oh fourth grade. 

You were a good and bad year.

That year I developed friendships I still carry on to this day and experienced death closer than I ever had before.

Ms. Fry was my 4th grade teacher. That year our classroom was actually a portable building in the back of the school. The very last and furthest portable building mind you. That pretty much nailed in that we were part of the oldest kids at school. Because, you know, the older kids were in the portables. :) 

Do you remember the show Coach? 

Well, Ms. Frys dad was the real life coach that that show was written about. Yep, believe it or not {and you should believe it} its true. So, we all kinda felt like our teacher was famous...in a roundabout way. Her dad was friends with the writer behind the show idea.

That year in my class were my friends Kerri,  Katie, Tiffany, Amy and Natalie. And that year I developed a really close friendship with Tiffany, Amy and Natalie. {On a side note, TIff and I are still friends. We dont see each other very often due to distance but we still keep in touch. And Amy, well I just found her on Facebook after not having talked to her since 2004!} All 3 were Christians and being raised in homes where the Lord was put first. Natalies mom was our principle and Tiffany and Amys moms worked in the office...so I was kinda the odd man out in that department. 

I remember playing a class game {around the world I think} one day and Tiffany laughing so hard she started snorting. From then on we called her Snortin' Thornton. At another point of class games during the year someone started coughing really loud and Tiffany stood up and yelled 'hurry someone do the hiney remover!!!' What she meant to say was the Heimlich maneuver. {yes, I totally searched on swagbucks for the correct spelling there!} TIffany was such a cut up and you couldn't help but love her! From then on every.single.time I would call and have to leave a message on her answering machine I would say something about looking for some hiney remover. We would kill ourselves in laughter. Actually, thinking about it makes me laugh even now. {Yes, Im aware its probably  one of those 'you had to be there' type of situations}

My second oldest brother was a senior in high school that year. Our school had a program that had high school students come and befriend and mentor kids in our school. I remember one of the girls who would come was friends with my brother. I also remember thinking that everytime she came I was wearing the same outfit and feeling embarrassed about that. Apparently I was aware of the lack of amount of clothes we were able to afford back then because I remember being self concious about it. Being raised by a single mom meant not having a huge wardrobe with tons of clothes over flowing. I think subconciously that contributed to my clothing addiction when I started having kids. And still, to this day, why I have a clothing hoarding problem. {There, I admited Mom and Derek, happ?? lol}

In this picture I am wearing the outfit I felt like I wore all the time. My friend Amy had the matching outfit so we planned to wear it on the same day one time. The girl in green was my friend Katie. Her mom babysat me after school that year.

Amy and I are inside the tube here. The girl to the far right is my friend Kerri. Her and I had been in the same class every year so far. Her mom made all her clothes. It was back when fabric painted clothes were all the rage. She also had matching hairbows for every outfit. Her mom also always had her and her younger sister matching. I remember wishing I had clothes like her. I am certain those feelings have affected me as a mom dressing my girls. I love them to match and wanting them in cute, boutique outfits is what got me started sewing.

I'm on the far left here. The 2 boys right in front of me were my first good friends that were boys. 

That year was the last year attending Peters Colony Elementary. A new school was being built and that's where I was zoned too. We had the option of staying at our current school but all my clothes friends, except Kerri, were going to the new school. I'm pretty sure Kerri's mom tried to get a job at the new school so she could send Kerri there, with all her friends, but for some reason that didn't work out. That year was pretty much the last year of close friendship with her.

Since we were leaving the school and ending friendships and leaving classmates we had spent school with over the previous 4 years Tiffany, Amy, Natalie and I decided to sing a song for the talent show. Can you take a wild guess what it was? Friends are Friends Forever. {Again, if you were a Christian in the early 90's I'm sure you still know all the words to this song) I had sang in the talent show every year up until this point. I had a name to live up to {ha!} so when we were standing in front of the whole school and I hear our song start with the singer singing along {vs. just the music} I had a look of horror on my face! I was so upset! I knew we could sing it with just the music and some teacher had put the tape on the wrong side! The expression on my face was priceless when we went back to watch the video.

This was the day of the talent show. I'm the one standing in front with my leg up. The hand print shirt is the shirts we made to wear for the talent show. A random fact...the girl who looks like shes wearing all white, her great great, who knows how many greats, grandpa was President Van Buren. Her name was Jessica Van Buren and I thought it was fascinating that she had a famous relative like that. {Apparently, I had lots of famous connections that year}

In 4th grade I encountered death of a close family member for the first time. We were in Colorado for Spring Break visiting some friends and I remember my mom getting a call that my Uncle Slade had died. It wasn't some awful car accident or an expected death due to health.
No, it was a murder/suicide. 
It was my dads half brother, who also lived in California. He was the cool Uncle who was building his acting career and would always take us to the movie theater when we were in Cali visiting my dad. He'd point out all the names of the people in the credits that he knew. And we thought that was super cool. He was close friends with the guy who played the green Ninja Turtle in the movies. {ha! another famous connection, lol} My brother Corey and him had a pretty close relationship.  He had planned on spending some time that summer after graduation with my Uncle Slade so that death was really hard on him. 


I think this was also the year my step mom got cancer for the first time. They were still living in California at the time but moved back to Dallas some time that year. 


I have such mixed emotions when I think back to 4th grade. On a whole it was a great year with the building of life long friendships. But, there is the sadness that comes up when I think about the death of my uncle. 
It's also kind of weird to think about the fact that Elisa will be starting 4th grade this year. To think about all those memories and know I was about the same age as her is kinda of a weird feeling as a mom.









The Lindsay Files 
Part 1
Part 2 
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5